After an in-depth tour of the building, we started researching the history, and what it would take to renovate and bring the building up to modern codes.
The Layland Museum, Johnson County Courthouse Museum, and the Johnson County Real Property Records were invaluable to find the history of the building.
The building was constructed in 1881 by Harvey S. Wilson as a dry goods store. They sold agricultural tools and provided service and maintenance for horse drawn carriages. In the early 1920’s the building housed a candy store and a department store. By the late 20’s or early 30’s there had been an auto supply, transistor radio parts store, and the Oakland Motor Car showroom (the cars were on the second floor!).
Many other businesses operated in the building, Sears Catalog, Allstate Insurance, Joe’s Appliance Shop, the Quick Print Shop, and in 1997, the Comic Boxx. By 2013 the building was being used as a warehouse and workshop for Owen’s Home Furnishings. In 2017, the building was purchased to be renovated. The top floor will be residential, an open concept loft, and the bottom floor will be rented out as retail space.
According to HGTV’s House Hunters: Outside the Box, is about “Open-minded home seekers breaking the mold and making themselves at home with unconventional properties. From abandoned gas stations and old windmills to rundown movie theaters and churches, these creative minds prove that they don’t need a traditional house to create a dream home.” (Link listed below)
“Life is too short to follow in other’s footsteps. Create your own but learn from others” Unknown
This whole concept started by watching too much HGTV, a desire to try something different and the fact that we have seen The Matrix and can totally relate to it.
We were living in a rut. Living in a typical suburban home with neighbors and an HOA. We were living in The Matrix, at least that’s what it felt like.
It all made sense until our Dogs, our beloved boys of 15 1/2 years, were unable to live a quality life. The day we had to put them down, we came home from the vet to our middle class suburban neighborhood and our cookie cutter home, wondering “what now?” What an eye opener. We talked about what we wanted out of life and decided it was time to take the “blue pill”. That’s what started us down this path to exiting The Matrix.
That’s when we decided to live our lives somewhere, anywhere, that we thought we could make a difference and not just exist. We both wanted to to find a way to make a difference, be a part of something bigger.
This lead to the search of something historic, interesting, and out of the norm.
“Living Outside the Box”
We started by looking at properties around historic town squares. Decatur TX and Bridgeport TX to name a few. We found an interesting building in Kaufman TX but the courthouse is not the most historic since it was built in 1956.
Frustrated, we had to find a better way to search. Internet! We looked at several aerial pictures of town squares and realized we wanted to live near a historic county courthouse, one with a lot of historic buildings around it. This lead us to Cleburne TX. Cleburne is the Johnson County Seat, and has so much history.
The Chisholm Trail Parkway had just been completed and the Courthouse is incredible!!!!
We discovered that there are numerous historic buildings that are structurally sound and waiting to be brought back to life. The best part is that most of these buildings are located between the Courthouse and City Hall.
We found a building we liked, and even made an offer on it, but the building owner was unwilling to negotiate a realistic price for their property. One afternoon, while walking around the town, we kept walking around a large ugly square building/box. It had something unique about it. For some reason, we always ended up being drawn back to the big ugly building. We talked to another building owner, but no one really knew anything about it. There were no phone numbers or names listed on the building so we were stumped. But like we said, we kept going back for some reason. A week or two later, we happened to notice that one of the doors was open.
So, we just walked in and asked if we could speak to the owner. Turns out we were talking with the current owner. He was really nice and even offered to show us the entire building. Man, fate works in weird ways.
